"HFLS3" – Astronomers Discover Massive Star Factory in Universe

April 24, 2013

A giant galaxy called HFLS3 has been detected by astronomers. The galaxy is 12.8 Billion light years away from Earth and is producing stars when our universe was in its infancy. HFLS3 is so distant that the light we see from it has taken 13 billion years to get to Earth.
HFLS3 is about as gigantic as our Milky Way galaxy but produces stars at a rate 2,000 times greater and mass equivalent of 2,900 suns annually. These stars are springing from interstellar gas outstandingly rich in molecules such as carbon monoxide, ammonia and water.
HFLS3 has one of the highest star formation rates astronomers have discovered; over a thousand times faster than our own galaxy, the Milky Way, making HFLS3 a type of galaxy known as a “starburst”. As per the current theories of galaxy evolution, galaxies as massive as HFLS3 should not be present so soon after the Big Bang, but HFLS3 seems to defy this model. The distant star-forming galaxy that challenges the current theories of galaxy evolution. “HFLS3”, is forming stars at a much faster rate than should be possible according to existing predictions.

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